Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Warmth and Social-Emotional Well-Being for Children With and Without Disabilities

• In Event: Understanding Parent and Family Factors in Early Learning Settings

Abstract

Little is known about the longitudinal association between warm parenting in early childhood, particularly the preschool period, and children’s social-emotional well-being in middle childhood for children with and without disabilities. Our study uses a large, longitudinal dataset to examine the associations between parental warmth in early childhood and children’s social-emotional well-being in fifth grade. We also seek to understand how disability status and parental education level moderates this relationship. Our results suggest that parental warmth in early childhood is associated with children’s, but not teachers’, reports of social-emotional well-being in fifth grade. Additionally, parental warmth was a significant predictor of internalizing behavior and externalizing behavior in fifth grade for children with disabilities.

Authors

• Cara L Kelly, University of Delaware

• Melissa Stoffers, University of Delaware

• Anamarie Auger Whitaker, University of Delaware

• Tia Navelene Barnes, University of Delaware